Tsubaki Nakashima Co. (Japan) said it will build a second bearing ball manufacturing plant in Chongqing, China. Tsubaki also has a ball plant in Taicang, near Shanghai.

In mid-2006, Tsubaki's U.S. division, Hoover Precision Products, acquired Chongqing Steel Ball. The plant now operates under Tsubaki Nakashima.

article: Hoover acquires Chongqing Steel Ball
Tsubaki said the new Chongqing facility, budgeted at more than USD $17 million, will be completed and online by mid-2008. Within three years, its annual sales are forecast to reach at least $26 million.

The facility's manufacturing operations will be vertically integrated, starting with steel bar and ending with polished and sized balls. Most of the production equipment will come from Japan, and it also will take over the Taicang plant's ball polishing process which is now outsourced.

Target markets for balls from the new plant will be domestic bearing manufacturers in China, and also Japanese bearing manufacturers setting up plants in China.